America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 259 Price Follow-up

"Where is the truck driver you mentioned now?" Zhang Ailun asked again.

"It seems he had already resigned on the day it happened. He ran off to a small town in the countryside to lay low. He must hate me to death right now," Magee said helplessly. "I was originally planning to give him a few thousand dollars, but I didn't expect him to be such a coward. I feel bad for him, but he did eat a meal with me, so we're even."

You think treating someone to a meal will make things even? Your values ​​are completely warped, like your great-grandmother's.

Zhang Ailun nodded and said to Bailey, "Take these men to the mountain camp in the Kiliyad Mountains for safekeeping. Then go to the countryside, find the truck driver, and persuade him to testify in court as well."

"What if he doesn't agree?" Melvin asked.

"Do I need to teach him? If he's willing to testify, give him a reward. If he's not, tell him that Parker will accuse him of aiding and abetting arson, that he's an accomplice in the murder, and that he'll face criminal charges and spend the rest of his life in jail," Zhang Ailun said.

"Okay, let's go now." Bailey and Melvin put away the camera, took out the memory card and handed it to the leader, then returned to the van with the Beggars' Sect disciples and got the group into the van.

Watching them leave, Zhang Ailun turned around and got into the Wrangler, letting Zorro start the vehicle.

"Damn it, my lighter and cigarettes are still on that guy!" Zorro suddenly realized.

He was so engrossed in the other person's story that he was thinking about how to squeeze a fist into it, and he didn't even remember his lighter and cigarettes when it was over.

What an extraordinary woman on the street!

"Just buy more if they run out, it's no big deal," Zhang Ailun said nonchalantly.

Zorro didn't say anything, still savoring the other's legendary story, and asked, "Boss, where do we go next?"

Zhang Ailun checked the messages; they were from the oil company, and there was also a private message from Old Karl.

"Go to the manor ranch in Green Field Town."

"Okay." Zorro nodded and immediately drove to Green Field Manor.

Zhang Ailun sat in the passenger seat, took out his phone, and began replying to their messages one by one.

Huasen Petroleum: Hello Mr. Jin, after discussion, our board of directors, based on current international oil prices, is willing to purchase your three oil fields at your Greenfield Estate in Los Angeles, California, for US$7900 million, US$1.25 million, and US$3 million respectively. We can discuss this further if you have any objections.

Zhang Ailun glanced at his offer and then at the daily intelligence report.

I was immediately amused.

Your bottom line is clearly 8500 million, 1.3 million, and 3.25 million.

Still haggling here? Trying to get a kickback? You won't get a single penny from me!

The Grand Master saw right through you all long ago.

If your company doesn't buy it, there are plenty of other companies that are willing to.

However, given that the other party was a legitimate oil company and did not attempt to use extreme coercive tactics, the leader showed them sufficient respect.

After all, he is a rare green player in the North American server region.

Zhang Ailun: I will consider it. You can send people to my Green Field Manor Ranch to personally inspect the oil field's output before making a decision.

Huasen Petroleum: Mr. Jin, our offer is absolutely sincere! We hope you will consider it carefully.

Zhang Ailun: This price is indeed very favorable, but the current international oil market price is fluctuating between $75 and $82, and in the next few years there is even hope that the price of crude oil will break through $95 a barrel again. I also hope that you can attach importance to this transaction cooperation.

Huasen Petroleum: We cannot change the international oil price market. It will take at least several decades to extract oil resources. No one can predict the future price trend. After all, the launch of new energy vehicles and new energy batteries has indirectly affected the international market. In the future, there may be a situation where oil prices fall below the bottom price. We also cannot purchase oil fields according to the current highest standards. We hope you can understand our difficulties.

Zhang Ailun: It's okay, I can understand, and I hope you can understand my decision to choose other oil companies and trade oil fields with them.

Upon hearing this, Huasen Petroleum assumed that other oil companies had already sent people over.

A moment of panic set in, and I quickly said, "We'll head to your ranch right now! Please wait for our people to arrive before we discuss the quote. It will only take a maximum of fifteen minutes!"

Zhang Ailun: I will.

I exited the chat window.

On the other side, the manager of Huasen Petroleum's California branch looked at the information, turned to his female assistant, and gave a wry smile: "The client doesn't seem very satisfied with our price."

"It's okay. We can just offer a little more than other companies. The board of directors doesn't really have any bottom line. As long as the oil field can be developed, the company will definitely make a profit. Those shareholders only care about profits and don't care about anything else."

"The only companies we need to consider are Merlin Oil and WM Oil, two leading companies with branches in California and some influence. Other smaller companies simply don't have the funds and capital to acquire these three oil fields, and they certainly wouldn't be willing to pay in installments."

The female assistant, who also serves as the deputy manager, confidently held up the analysis documents and said, "According to our intelligence, the client seems to really appreciate young, beautiful white girls. I think we might be able to start from this angle!"

"Every man likes women," Manager Watson said speechlessly. "I also like mature women. Do you think someone as rich as him would lack women? We can certainly pay to hire popular actresses for gigs, but he might not even be interested. Why don't you try seducing him? Maybe he happens to like your type."

"It's not impossible." The female assistant blinked and thrust out her impressive breasts a couple of times. After all, a billionaire this young is a rare find.

If the other party is interested in her, she can even go home at lightning speed to divorce her husband and rush to the wonderful life of a billionaire's wife!

"I really hope your husband can understand your thoughts," Manager Watson complained.

The female assistant said, "Pursuing a better life is human nature; you have no reason to say that to me."

"Okay! We'll take a plane there right away. We need to be there in fifteen minutes!!" Manager Watson hurriedly started packing his luggage.

Zhang Ailun had no idea what Huasen Petroleum was planning to do, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. He was unlikely to sell all three oil fields to the same company anyway. He glanced at the offers from the other two companies.

Merlin Oil: Hello Mr. Jin, after discussion, our board of directors, based on current international oil prices, is willing to purchase your three oil fields at your Greenfield Estate in Los Angeles, California, for US$7800 million, US$1.3 million, and US$3.1 million respectively. We can discuss this further if you have any objections.

WM Oil: Hello Mr. Jin, after discussion, our board of directors has decided, based on current international oil prices, to acquire [the company] for US$9000 million, US$1.2 million, and US$2.95 million respectively. We can discuss this further if you have any concerns.

Basically, it wasn't much different from their bottom-line price. Zhang Ailun thought for a moment, then edited a message and replied to the two oil companies.

Zhang Ailun: I am currently en route to Green Field Manor Ranch. If your company is interested in reaching a deal, I hope you can send someone to personally inspect the oil well. I can guarantee the accuracy of the data, and I also hope your company can honestly offer a reasonable price.

Ultimately, the issue is that I'm not entirely satisfied with the price.

Merlin Petroleum and Weima Petroleum understood that other companies were also bidding, so the customer couldn't agree immediately. They replied promptly: We will now set off for your estate ranch, which will take about 15-20 minutes.

Zhang Ailun: Okay. I'll wait for you guys to come.

I opened the message that Old Karl had sent, along with several pictures from the scene. There were also several iron drums filled with crude oil.

Old Carl: The oil pumps have all been installed and are already producing oil steadily. It's just that the power consumption is a bit too much. With the engine running at full power, it costs at least several hundred dollars a day! Zhang Ailun: Only a few hundred dollars, but you can extract tens of thousands of dollars worth of oil. You should be secretly happy.

Old Carl: Guess what? I'm ready to sell my oil. A local refinery contacted me, and an oil company is offering $7600 million to $8000 million to buy my oil field.

Zhang Ailun: The price is too low. At current oil prices, two million barrels of crude oil are worth at least $1.1 million. Their offer of $9500 million is more reasonable.

Old Carl: So I'm waiting for you to come over and discuss it. I don't really know how to negotiate with them myself. I'm an old man, I'm easily taken advantage of. Oh, and another oil company called Lightning sent me a letter saying they want to treat me to dinner and offer to buy my oil field for $200 million. Are these people out of their minds?

Zhang Ailun: Ignore them. They're planning to force me into a sale and even have someone kidnap me. I'm prepared to deal with them. If they dare come, I'll make sure they regret it! My men aren't pushovers!

Old Carl: Thank goodness you're here!

After putting away his phone, the leader sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, resting. Zorro drove steadily, and as the Wrangler entered a remote rural road, he suddenly noticed something was wrong with the car coming from behind.

I glanced at the black Highlander in the rearview mirror; the tint on the windows was too dark to see anything clearly.

His killer instincts told him there was something wrong with the car. Zorro immediately drew his pistol and called out to the leader, "Boss, there's something wrong with that Highlander behind us; it's using a fake license plate."

Zhang Ailun opened his eyes and glanced at the rearview mirror. The Highlander was indeed acting strangely. Without changing his expression, he said, "Slow down. Let's see what it does."

As he spoke, he pulled out a handbag from under the back seat, took out a bulletproof vest, grenades, stun grenades, and a Vector submachine gun, and quickly assembled them.

Zorro slammed on the brakes, slowing down. The Highlander seemed to realize it had been spotted and used the pretense of overtaking to get ahead, creating some distance between them.

Zhang Ailun took out his phone, took a picture of the Highlander, and sent it to Blitz.

Zhang Ailun: I was being followed on a rural road in the suburbs. Could you help me find information about this car?

A few minutes later, Blitz messaged: It was a car with fake license plates, the model seemed to have been modified, and it was registered under the name of a car rental company in downtown Los Angeles. That rental company was one of the assets of several Mexican bosses, and the person renting the car was an employee of a private detective agency. Are they watching you? You can check their EMS tracker.

Zhang Ailun: OK.

The leader opened the Terminator 2.0 system, searched for the location, and sure enough, he saw that a cell phone signal had approached him ten minutes ago. The same signal source was basically within a range of 200 meters.

"These bastards really couldn't wait to make a move against me." Zhang Ailun clicked his tongue. They'd already sent a private investigator to follow him and monitor his movements so quickly. Weren't they a little too hasty?

"Should we take them out? There are at most four people in that car. Judging from the speed, driving style, and the curvature of the suspension, there are most likely three people," Zorro asked.

See? That's what you call professional.

"They are private investigators, not assassins, so they shouldn't be carrying any deadly weapons. Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to leave Los Angeles. Their mission is probably just to monitor my daily life so that they can provide reliable intelligence for the subsequent kidnapping operation."

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Ailun immediately ordered, "Accelerate! Smash its taillights!!"

"Are you sure?" Zorro looked at the Grand Master with some surprise.

"If my Wrangler can't wreck a cheap Japanese Highlander, I'll never drive it again!" Zhang Ailun declared confidently. "Blame it on this remote location, where there are no security cameras, and they're driving a Japanese car right in front of me! Go! Let's teach them a lesson! Run it over!!"

He immediately grabbed his seatbelt.

"Boss, you're way crazier than I thought," Zorro muttered, then without another word, floored the gas pedal and headed straight for the rear of the Hamilton that was moving at a steady speed ahead.

With a roar, the Wrangler's engine roared and accelerated, shooting off with unstoppable momentum.

The private investigator in the front car, who was taking photos with his camera, suddenly saw the Wrangler charging towards him like a madman.

A lightning-fast change of expression: "Oh! Shit!!"

Bang! ! !

The next second, the entire car was thrown to its side, the taillights shattered instantly, sparks flew from the friction, and it rolled on the spot, tumbling and crackling as it rolled to the edge of the road, emitting thick white smoke, while the wheels continued to spin wildly in the air.

Zorro parked the Wrangler on the side of the road. Zhang Ailun got out of the car with his gun. He glanced at the Wrangler's bumper, which was basically intact, and then at the dilapidated Highlander, which had almost been smashed into a hatchback.

He was immediately amused: "I knew this thing wouldn't be durable! Racing someone on the highway in a flimsy Highlander, who's going to die if not you?"

Zorro went over and glanced at the cockpit. The airbags had deployed, and three people were bleeding from their heads and had already passed out.

He scoffed, "That's all?"

They found a camera, four hidden cameras, three cell phones, and a satellite phone in the car. They checked the satellite phone; it had a contact number and showed three past calls: one at 2 AM yesterday, one at 7 AM this morning, and another about half an hour ago.

"You're quite well-prepared," Zhang Ailun sneered. He turned on the camera, pulled up the menu, watched a video clip, and then his face darkened.

Because the video showed the other three people having sex with a black woman in a motel.

Zhang Ailun's lips twitched. He decisively deleted the photo, then opened a few more photos and found one of himself in the passenger seat of the Wrangler.

There were still a dozen seconds of video footage. It looked incredibly easy; they even captured the leader's breathing clearly.

"Damn it, these bastards can't be allowed to live!!"

The leader cursed and immediately took out his phone to call the mountain camp in the Kilimanjaro Mountains.

After the Beggars' Sect disciple answered the call, he said, "Come pick them up, we need more laborers." He then sent them the navigation location.

They then lent a hand to Zorro, pulling the three men out of the vehicle and carrying them to the side of the road. They tied them up tightly and kept them away from the Highlander that had been involved in the accident to prevent any accidental explosion.

A dozen minutes later, when the three of them slowly woke up, they glanced at the blue sky and white clouds and felt a soreness all over their bodies. Before they could do anything, a dark gun barrel was pressed against their foreheads.

"Don't move."

Zorro said coldly.

The cold, hard touch startled the three of them.

"Big brother! Spare me!!"

(End of this chapter)